!!FridgeBrilliance* In ThreeHundred, Leonidas tells the traitor Ephialtes to live a long life. At first it seems that Leonidas is telling him "Good luck with your life," a moment later Ephialtes breaks down in tears. Why? He was trying to regain his father's spartan honor, and in Sparta, you were only respected if you fought and died in battle. - Strilight** That StealthInsult may also be the exact moment that Ephialtes realizes that Leonidas - who despite everything is still (in his mind) his beloved king - is [[ISurrenderSuckers not actually in the process of surrendering to Xerxes]], no matter [[HonorBeforeReason the personal consequences]].* In the beginning Leonidas lures a wolf into a tight passage and spears it, because the wolf was basically trapped and helpless - he uses the same tactic during the battle of Termopilae: he lures the huge Persian army into a small space where they can't make full use of their vast numbers, and can only send smaller forces which get massacred. * Quite possibly accidental FridgeBrilliance: Gerard Butler's frequent [[NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent accent slippage]] actually puts his characterization of Leonidas in line with a long-standing TranslationConvention. Spartans were often characterized as having Scottish accents when Ancient Greek plays were translated into English, drawing a parallel between how the English and the Scots regarded each other and how the Athenians and the Spartans regarded each other: prissy intellectuals versus short-tempered bumpkins.* Another case of FridgeBrilliance: The movie and the comic aren't regarded as very accurate in terms of historical events but rather a take on actual events put into a medium that makes for a fantastic story. At the end of the film the events are being told to Greek troops to hype them up for the approaching battle. The entire premise of the movie and the comic it was based on amounts to wartime propaganda to raise the moral of the home team!* [[LoverAndBeloved In Athens they love boys]]. [[ManlyGay IN SPARTA THEY LOVE MEN]]!!!!* Yet more FridgeBrilliance: Although the fighting was heavily stylized to the point of absurdity, when reading Greek literature such as Literature/TheIliad, one notices that the plot essentially stops for pages upon pages of gory descriptive combat. While the film may not be an accurate representation of Greek history, it does an amazingly good job of emulating the tone of Greek Epics.** Similarly, as Kyle Kallgren of WebOriginal/BrowsHeldHigh famously pointed out, the ancient Greeks probably didn't have a word for blue, with Homer describing the sea as "wine-dark" and the sky as "bronze." Hence the film's infamously stylized color pallet, with yellow skies, dark purple seas, and almost no blue anywhere.* The idea of Dilios making up details for the sake of rousing up the troops may have been true. During Leonidas' training, Dilios said that he was taught to show no pain... right as he is showing a pained expression as he is getting beaten.* When the Persian ambassador asks for earth and water this is actually a backhanded and realistic request for citizenship. Only Citizens of Sparta were allowed to own land in Sparta, so by asking for land, the Persian was asking to become a Citizen (and also a voting member in the council).!!FridgeLogic * When we see a close-up of Leonidas' corpse, we see arrows puncturing every point of his body except his head.----